Chapter 46 Spring is Coming

The 212 Jeep drove along the mountain road, swaying and bobbing up and down with the bumps and jolts of the road surface.

Xue Shuang sat in the back row, with Li Lu next to him.

Xu Hailiang personally led a team to pick them up. Two cars arrived. He and the aviation medical officer were in the first car, while Xue Shuang and Li Lu were in the second car. They were on their way back to the Donghai airfield.

Seeing Li Lu's inexplicable smiles from time to time, Xue Shuang couldn't help but say, "You were almost turned into a meat pie, and you can still smile."

Li Lu came to his senses and said, "That's not how it works."

He sat up straight and said, "The girl who saved me is named Niu Jun. Niu as in ox or horse, Jun as in army. Can you believe there's no girl with that name? Also, she's incredibly strong, her nickname is Niu Dali (meaning 'Strong Ox'). Niu Dali... Hahaha, that's hilarious!"

Seeing Li Lu grinning to himself, Xue Shuang frowned slightly and observed him closely.

After a while, Li Lu finally came to his senses. Seeing Xue Shuang staring at him, he instinctively shrank back and said, "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Xue Shuang pointed at Li Lu and said, "Spring is here, and you're in heat."

Li Lu retorted, "That's utter nonsense!"

"Tsk tsk tsk, look at your lovesick expression just now, you were practically oozing juice!" Xue Shuang scolded angrily. "Now I know why you wanted her contact address, Lao Li, you had ulterior motives!"

Each aspect of this accident, taken individually, is unheard of.

In his view, and in the view of many people, to survive under such circumstances with almost no chance of survival, and to be physically healthy except for some abrasions, is already a blessing from God!

After experiencing something like that, anyone would probably be so frightened that they would become withdrawn.

But Li Lu, on the other hand, not only chatted and laughed, but even had the mind to think about finding a girlfriend!

It was as if he wasn't the one who experienced the plane disintegrating in mid-air and the parachute opening at low altitude, but someone else entirely.

This level of mental fortitude can no longer be described as merely formidable.

If the standard for mental fortitude is divided into mild, moderate, and severe from low to high, then Li Lu's mental fortitude is definitely at the "Indian" level.

He returned to the station, underwent a more thorough medical examination overnight, and then went back to rest.

The entire regiment must be grounded; all training, except for combat duty, must be suspended. An investigation team from higher command will arrive the following day, and only after the investigation is completed will the order to resume flight training be issued—this is standard procedure.

At the time, Xu Hailiang and Zhao Chaoyang flew alongside in JJ-6 trainer aircraft and filmed the entire process with their cameras. Therefore, even if not all the wreckage has been recovered, or even the black box has not been found, it will not have a significant impact on the investigation.

The whole process was very clear.

Li Lu's operating actions were flawless, the maintenance crew followed all procedures perfectly, the tower's instructions were correct, and the weather was good.

Therefore, the problem must lie in the structural strength of the aircraft's fuselage.

J-6 No. 101 was produced and delivered to the military in 1982. It has been in service for thirteen years, and its airframe has a lifespan of at least seven more years. With proper maintenance, it could even be used for another ten years or more.

However, after reviewing the flight records of J-6 No. 101, the investigation team was surprised to find that the aircraft had flown a total of 1,000 hours in the past three years!

A pair of engines have already been driven to the point of being scrapped!

What does 1,000 hours in three years mean?

On average, it's 333 hours per year, which means that on average, you fly for almost an hour every day.

It's obviously impossible to fly every day; to achieve such an average, it means that the aircraft frequently conducts long-duration flight training.

After a thorough investigation, the investigation team was surprised to find that Li Lu, a young pilot who had only been in the military for three years, had accumulated 700 flight hours!

They fly an average of 233 hours per year, or 38 minutes per day.

What does this mean?

The average annual flight hours of a People's Liberation Army Air Force pilot is over 60 hours, and Li Lu's flight hours are four times that average!

Hong Lin assisted the investigation team, responsible for coordination and support. He silently calculated Li Lu's leverage fees over the past three years, and when he saw the result, he almost bit his tongue off.

4.2 million RMB.

Hong Lin quickly grasped the concept of this money—it was equivalent to six years of his salary.

Then there's the fact that everyone, whether older or higher in rank than Li Lu, would privately call him Sixth Brother. It wasn't because Li Lu had a powerful background—at least that wasn't the main reason—but because Li Lu was far ahead in training and was the leader in military training for the 7th Air Regiment.

For the investigation team, given the special circumstances where "the military must be patient" and resources must be concentrated on ensuring economic development, Li Lu's flight hours were definitely an anomaly.

However, there is no rule that prohibits pilots from flying more. A unit has a fixed annual budget, and there is only so much aviation fuel and consumable supplies available. How to use them is up to the pilots.

The data that came out of the investigation was just a side note. No one cared how many hours Li Lu flew or how much he earned in flight fees. What mattered was that the data reflected one thing: Li Lu, despite his young age, had a wealth of flying experience.

There was also a classic example of an emergency landing on an unfinished runway.

In other words, the investigation team concluded that the mid-air disintegration of the J-6 modified fighter jet No. 101 was unrelated to the pilot's operation.

After confirming that there were no issues with aircraft maintenance and control tower operations, the 7th Air Regiment conducted inspections and checks on all its J-6 fighter jets according to procedures, and normal flight training could then resume.

To fully understand the cause of the mid-air disintegration, we need to wait until all the black boxes and wreckage are recovered...